Crusaders remain undefeated in D10 football

The Lourdes Crusaders remained among the ranks of the unbeaten in District 10 high school football Tuesday by knocking off the previously-undefeated Guelph CVI Green Gaels 37-21 at Exhibition Park.

“It wasn’t our best, but we did the best we could do for now,” Noel Amaya of the Crusaders said. He accounted for 19 points for the winners. “That was one of my best (games).”

“We did some good things, but we just didn’t take advantage of the opportunities given us and they did,” GCVI coach Blair Rickers said. “You’ve got to give them full credit.”

The Crusaders, who scored their second win in as many school days, have won all four league games they’ve played this year.

“That was a tough game, but we made it tough on ourselves, as well, not taking anything away from GC,” Lourdes coach Dave Pearsall said. “They’re the best team we’ve played so far. They’re a really, really good passing team and we had to make some adjustments. Once again our defence made some critical turnovers and, ultimately, that helped us along the way.”

The Crusaders did just enough to win.

“We were getting distracted with their talking, but we managed to get through it,” Amaya said. “(We learned that we’ve) just got to keep our mouths shut and play hard — just focus on the game. Focus on our roles, that’s all we can do.”

While the Gaels had the ball most of the first quarter, Lourdes carried an 8-0 lead into the second quarter thanks to Noel Amaya. One of several two-way players in the league, he picked off an errant pass from GCVI quarterback Job Reinhart and returned it 45 yards to the end zone. He also kicked the convert and a single on a punt to account for all of the first-quarter points.

“That was a tough play,” Rickers said of Amaya’s touchdown on the interception. “We were trying to make a play and it didn’t work out for us.”

In all, Amaya finished with 19 points with two touchdowns (the other was on a pass from Lourdes quarterback Nick Parisotto), five converts and two singles.

The Crusaders led 30-7 at the half and 37-14 after the third quarter.

Braedon Gorgi and Liam St. Hilaire each had one touchdown for Lourdes.

Lucas Bulger scored two touchdowns for the Gaels while Raj Dhillon had the other one. Connor Courtney converted all three touchdowns.

For the Gaels, the game was their first of a tough pair of games this week. They’re to host Ross Friday at 7 p.m. at the Royal Distributing Athletic Performance Centre at Marden.

“We’ve got another tough game on Friday, but we’ve got two days of practice,” Rickers said. “I think we’re going to keep things pretty basic like we do all the time. It’s a relatively simple game, you’ve just got to play your position and take care of your business and play hard. All we talk about is play hard, play smart and play together. If we do that, good things are going to happen.”

The Ross Royals are the other unbeaten team in the league at 3-0-0. Lourdes and Ross are to meet at Ross Oct. 26 in the final game of the regular season.

D10 Baseball

Semifinal

Orangeville 9 Guelph CVI 2

Details were not reported.

D10 Sr. Girls Basketball

Bishop Macdonell 49 Lourdes 37

Rebecca Morris hit for 16 points for Bishop Mac in the battle of unbeaten teams while Andrea Priamo added 14 and Jessica Morris had 11. Monica Trimble struck for 11 for Lourdes with 10 going to Hannah Pearsall and six to Victoria Brombal.